Tag Archives: freedom of speech

The US ambassador to Libya is among four Americans killed in an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, President Barack Obama has confirmed. Unidentified armed men stormed the grounds overnight amid uproar among Muslims over a US-produced film said to insult the Prophet Muhammad. They shot at buildings and threw handmade bombs into the […]

Background to the case The background to the case is that journalist Andrew Bolt wrote a series of newspaper articles and blog posts which were critical of the plaintiffs, who were all individuals who identified as Aboriginal, but who had pale skin and did not look like stereotypical Aboriginal people. He was critical of the […]

“The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly.” Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States Bromberg J handed down judgment in favour of the plaintiffs in Eatock v Bolt [2011] FCA 1103 this morning. You may recall that I wrote a post while the case was being heard. Bromberg […]

I am planning a long post on super-injunctions and celebrities in the coming weeks, but in the meantime I thought I’d have a quick look at suppression orders and the Victorian Supreme Court. Suppression orders prevent the media from reporting on trials to which such orders apply. Apparently suppression orders were rife during the Melbourne […]

If I were an indigenous person trying to make life better for my people, I’d prefer that my cause not be “adopted” by one particular side of politics. Once you get adopted by one side, the other side won’t look at your legitimate claims and grievances, regardless of how much merit they have. Just look at the recent furore involving […]

Hello all, I’m still not back at work yet, but I am slowly getting better from pneumonia. I should be back at work next week. A while back I mentioned that certain indigenous plaintiffs were bringing legal action against Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt. Maybe I’m odd; I don’t have the visceral hatred of Bolt […]

I am a quintessential liberal (with a small ‘l’) in relation to religious belief. I don’t much mind what someone else believes, as long as they (a) don’t harm others and (b) leave me well alone to my own rather quirky beliefs. One thing I particularly dislike is being preached at. The more someone tries […]

As many of our readers are aware, the rather spiffy advertisements that–until recently–ran here (as well as on Larvatus Prodeo, Club Troppo and Jennifer Marohasy, to cover the political spectrum) were brokered by Online Opinion’s Graham Young. Graham–who both Legal Eagle and I consider a personal friend–is an internet ‘old hand’ who negotiated high quality […]

Heath Gibson reminded me in a post this morning that we have a renewed opportunity to persuade the Labor party to drop its ridiculous bid to impose net censorship. As he notes, because of the change in leadership, the party can now back away from previous policies without losing so much face (as it has […]

[Cross posted at Fortnightly Review, the new online journal founded by IPRIA and the CMCL at the University of Melbourne. Please check out Fortnightly Review – it’s well worth a look.] 1. CYBER-BULLYING Cyber-bullying in Australia – Facebook It’s not only Lara Bingle and other celebrities who have to worry about cyber-bullying, “sexting” and how […]